Download the trail guide PDF here Navigate via page links below WW2 Polish pilot memorial Born in 1916, Bolesław Andrzej Własnowolski was a Polish fighter ace in WW2. He fought in the Polish 1939 September 1939 Campaign and the 1940 Battle of Britain. Własnowolski joined the Polish Air Force in October 1936, training to be …
Tag archives: WW2
Rear Admiral Percy Gick
Rear Admiral Philip ‘Percy’ Gick flew Swordfish aircraft in the Second World War and also created Emsworth Yacht Harbour. He served in a total of eight aircraft carriers, and was awarded the DSC and Bar and twice mentioned in dispatches. Did you know? ‘Mentioned in dispatches’ (MiD) is when the name of a member of …
Air Raid Shelters
As war in Europe loomed, in 1938 the Government knew it had to provide people with protection from air raid bombing if Britain was attacked. Named after Sir John Anderson, these bomb shelters could accommodate six people. They had 8 vertical steel corrugated sheets and 6 curved sheets, bolted together at the top, sunk three …
Emsworth Bus Shelter
Emsworth has a very rare combined bus shelter and war memorial. After World War I the residents of Emsworth wanted a useful memorial to fallen comrades from the town, and endowed two beds in Emsworth Victoria Cottage Hospital. Did you know? An endowment is a legal structure for managing and indefinitely continuing a financial, property …
Westbourne Scouts
The 1st Westbourne Scout Group is one of the oldest in Sussex, having been founded just after the first World War. Did you know? Astronaut Tim Peake works for the European Space Agency. He was brought up in Westbourne and was also a Scout here! In 1920 Westbourne Scout Group had 16 Scouts, but within …
Thorney Island
Thorney Island peninsula juts into Chichester Harbour and is separated from the mainland by a narrow channel called Great Deep. West Thorney village is on the island’s East coast and Thorney Island south of Great Deep has been a military base since 1938, when an RAF airfield was built as a fighter station for Coastal …
The Poor Cottage
The Poor Cottage in Chidham Lane is a Grade II listed building and lies just south of the Catchpond. Dating from around 1600, although some parts may be earlier, the building has an interesting history as it was the parish poor house until 1838. The problem of poverty raised public concern throughout the early 19th …
South Street Car Park
The tall building and chimney belonged to the Kinnell and Hartley Brewery on a site that first made beer in Emsworth in 1794. They even brewed Guinness. The Kinnell and Hartley brewery ran from 1903 to 1928 and owned 26 public houses from Nutbourne to Gosport. Below is an aerial shot of Emsworth with the …
34 South Street
34 South Street was previously The Sloop public house seen above left with a Lyons Tea sign. For many people the public house was the centre of social life and Emsworth was well supplied. It had 25 places selling drink in 1875, all at a time when tap and pump water still posed a health …